Bright Young Collectors | September 2024 | Nate Pedersen

National Book Collecting Prize Winner Emma Treleaven on Collecting Books on Clothes and Textiles

Emma Treleaven

Our Bright Young Collectors series continues today with Emma Treleaven, winner of the 2023 ABA National Book Collecting Prize.

Where are you from / where do you live?

I grew up in Canada, but I’ve lived in London, England for over 10 years now. I'm lucky to call both places home!

What did you study at University? What do you do now for an occupation?

I studied Fashion History and Theory for my BA and Museum Studies for my MA, and am now doing a PhD about Women shoemakers working in London between 1850 and 1914. I also work as the Collections Manager, which is sort of like a curator, at Amersham Museum just outside London.

Please introduce us to your book collection. What areas do you collect in?

I collect books and ephemera about how people made clothing and textiles in a domestic setting in the past, primarily before 1975. I use my collection to learn how to make things, to inspire me, and to preserve knowledge and skills I think are important.

How many books are in your collection?

I have around 100 books in my collection, plus two manuscripts, about thirty pamphlets and magazines, and over 150 knitting and sewing patterns. It’s grown a lot in the past year as I was lucky enough to win two book collecting prizes!

What was the first book you bought for your collection?

I don’t actually know what the first book I bought for my collection was. I’ve been really lucky with people gifting me books, that's really how my collection started, so I can’t remember what my first purchase actually was. One of the first ones I remember being really excited about was Flora Klickmann’s The Home Art Book of Fancy Stitchery from 1912, which I bought at an antique fair in rural British Columbia for $3 as a teenager. I now have an almost complete set of Klickmann’s making publications and have use them regularly, so it was $3 well spent!

How about the most recent book?

My most recent acquisition is a first edition of Children’s and Maternity Garments by the Women’s Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences from 1931. I’m having a baby soon and wanted to see how women makers like myself met the challenges of dressing stylishly with a growing baby bump in the past. I have a few other books from the Women’s Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences series, which are all great because they have beautiful diagrams and photos in them as well as great instructions, so I knew the maternity and children’s book would be a great addition to my collection.

And your favorite book in your collection?

I really don’t like to play favourites with my collection, they are all special! But I do go through phases of using them more or less, which is dependant on whatever I’m making at the time. At the moment I’m planning a dress with a smocked yoke (lots of little gathers with decorative stitches on top, think formal dresses for little girls type of thing), so all of my materials about smocking are getting lots of attention. When I was working on my wedding dress, all my books about needle lace were my constant companions for about six months.

Emma Treleaven

Emma Treleaven in her wedding dress. "I made the top using a technique of needle lace called Battenberg lace which I learned out of books from my collection so I could recreate the lace from the skirt which is from about 1912."

Emma Treleaven

Items from Emma Treleaven's collection

Emma Treleaven

Items from Emma Treleaven's collection

Emma Treleaven

Items from Emma Treleaven's collection

Best bargain you’ve found?

I do have a total soft spot for sampler books, which I have two of in my collection now. These are notebooks that girls and women used when learning needle arts, like plain sewing, mending and embroidery, and they are often full of little sew samples pinned in with the notes. I made something similar when I was learning to sew at school, and I love seeing how other women learned and how skilled (or in some cases not) they were.

I’m lucky that most of what I collect isn’t seen as financially valuable, unless you want to buy pattern books from the 18th century and earlier. I’ve picked up quite a few things for a few pounds or dollars, but a large portion of my collection has actually been given to me. Because what I collect was so common in the 20th century, almost every woman knew how to, say, sew and knit, there’s a lot of it around that people don’t know what to do with today. People give me things that belonged to their mother or grandmother, as they have this sense that these materials are too important to throw away, but they don’t know what to do with them, or that they have fond memories of their family member using them and they want them to go to someone who appreciates them. I think my collection is a bit repository for memory and emotion in that respect, which you see through marginalia or the stories that come along with each gifted book or pamphlet.

How about The One that Got Away?

I recently saw a 12 volume series about making textiles from the early 1970s in a charity shop. I used to look at the same books in the library when I was a kid and really loved them, so they would have been a nice addition to my collection. But it was at the end of a holiday so I decided to be financially sensible and not buy them, but I’m still kicking myself! They are tough to find in the UK, which I didn’t realise, so it was a big opportunity missed.

What would be the Holy Grail for your collection?

I don’t really have a Holy Grail per se, but I do love manuscript material. The two sampler books I have are really special to me, and I would love to continue to collect those.

Who is your favorite bookseller / bookstore?

My dad is actually a bookseller, so he will always be my favourite! But Debbie from Love Rare Books in St Leonard’s On Sea has found me some really amazing things before, including a rare 1940s tailoring manual in pristine condition with the most amazing illustrations.

What would you collect if you didn’t collect books?

I actually collect vintage clothes as well. My dad would bring home vintage hats, old fur coats and costume jewellery from estate sales for my dress up trunk when I was little, which led me to start buying and wearing vintage as a teenager. I suppose those beautiful garments are really what inspired my love of books on how they were made today!